Holiday Greetings!

FOR UNTO US A CHILD IS BORN, UNTO US A CHILD IS GIVEN; AND THE GOVERNMENT SHALL BE ON HIS SHOULDER, AND HIS NAME SHALL BE CALLED WONDERFUL, COUNSELOR THE MIGHTY GOD, THE EVERLASTING FATHER, THE PRINCE OF PEACE.

( ISAIAH 9:6 *NKJV )

As we celebrate this day let us not lose sight of the first Christmas present ever given, that being God giving us His Son, our Savior Jesus Christ, to dwell with us!

So let us not get lost in all the hustle and bustle of this time of year. Instead, let us be mindful of all our blessings, and share the Christmas Spirit with others. Remembering.....

THE GREATEST GIFT
The greatest gift at Christmastime
Is one we all may give -

A friendly smile that helps to make
Life easier to live.

A kindly thought, a helping hand,
To show someone we care

And let them know how much it means
For us to have them here.

The greatest gift at Christmastime
Costs not a lot to buy -

It's being a good neighbor
As days and months go by:

It's offering a shoulder
When someone needs a lift,

And so I pray this Christmas Day
That this may be your gift!

by: Grace E. Easley

May you have a Very Merry Christmas and a Blessed and Fruitful New Year!

Loy Krathong

November full moon shine Loy Krathong, loy krathong.....
Yes, this is a song we usually sing or hear in the mall every month of November in the kingdom of Thailand.
Loy krathong is one of Thai annual festivals. It takes place on the full-moon of the month of the lunar calendar.

Loy Krathong was originated in the ancient kingdom of Sukothai some 700 years ago.
Loy means floating and krathong stands for a little lotus-shaped "krathong" (boat) made of banana stem and banana leaves, decorated with candle, incense, flowers and other decorations as a homage to the Buddha.

There are several other legends about the origin of Loy Krathong, however, most are all similar in one aspect.
Narng Noppamart was a lady with great artistic skills from royal court made the first krathong, some 700 years ago.

Loy Krathong was the very enjoyable day for the Thai people, their very important objective is to give respect to the Goddess of Water to thank for its benefit as well as to beg pardon for polluting water.
The other one is to push bad luck away and bring back good luck.

The history of "Halloween"

I would like to share this letter sent to me of one of my friend about the history of halloween.
To all my readers, enjoy !

Dear Simplyriss,

As our children get ready to go "Trick-or-Treating" let us learn a little about the day "Halloween." Therefore Simplyriss, we will depart from our usual message to take a look at a pagan holiday, that changed because of Christianity, and thus became a Holy Day that is still observed in some Denominations still today!

Therefore we will look at a ancient pagan ritual, that is still practiced today. It's original name was "Samhain," however we know it as "Halloween."

"Samhain" began at sundown on October 31st and extended into the following day. According to the Celtic pagan religion, known as Druidism, the spirits of those who had died roamed the earth on "Samhain" evening. This night was much feared by the Celtic people, and they sought to ward off the spirits with offerings of food and drink.

The dark side of this event was the fact that the Celts built bonfires, at so called sacred sights, and sometimes preformed rituals involving HUMAN and/or Animal Sacrifices, to honor Druid gods. "Samhain" was abandoned only when the people converted to Christianity during the very early middle ages.

Now during that period of time the Church often incorporated modified versions of ancient pagan rituals in order to win over converts. For example, Pope Gregory IV successfully replaced "Samhain" with All Saints Day, which fell on November 1, thus the evening of October 31 became known as All Hallows' Even, which was later shortened to Halloween. All Souls Day, as it is known as today, is a Holy Day in the Roman Catholic, and Anglican Churches, honoring those who have passed away.

Some aspects of this ancient pagan tradition thought to be incompatible with Christianity, were linked with folk beliefs about evil spirits. In British folklore, small magical fairies became associated with Halloween mischief. The jack-o-lantern, originally carved from a turnip, originated in medieval Scotland. A small candle would be put into the turnip, that had a scary face carved on it. This was to be lit at night and displayed to scare off evil spirits which they feared roamed about that night.

Between the 15th & 17th Centuries, Europe was seized by a hysterical fear of witches, who were thought to ride flying brooms and to assume the form of black cats. Thus the images of witches and black cats soon joined other European superstitions as symbols of Halloween.

In the 19th & early 20th Centuries, young people often observed Halloween by perpetrating minor acts of vandalism, such as overturning sheds or breaking windows. Beginning in the 1930's, Halloween mischief gradually transformed into the modern ritual of trick-or-treating, though some still choose to perform acts of vandalism on Halloween still today.

A final note, Simplyriss, is the fact that Halloween is the high holy day of the satanic church. So it still bears a very dark side indeed, even today!


References: ( Encarta Reference Library 2008, and the Encyclopedia Britannica 2006. )

Songkhla aquarium

Songkhla Aquarium established by Songkhla Municipality located at Laem Son-On, Bor-yang Subdistrict, Muang District, Songkhla. It is the newest tourist place of Songkhla Province.

I had a chance to visit this place during holidays.
The newly opened Songkhla aquarium has three interesting places, The Big Tank, Souvenirs Shop and Terrarium Zone.

Terrarium Zone consist of Zone A-Fresh Water Fish, Zone B-Brackish Water Fish, Zone C-Marine Fish and Zone D-Gulf of Thailand.

Seeing the greatest gigantic and plentiful of giant Groupers in Thailand, friendly Leopard Sharks and group of colourful fishes living surrounded by beautiful coral reefs which you can see the real of under water life.

Songkhla Aquarium is open everyday (Sunday to Saturday) 09.00 a.m. - 07.00 p.m., admission ticket, Adult-100 baht, Children-50 baht and foreigner-200 baht.

For more information just visit http://www.songkhlaaquarium.com

And more photos to be posted on my other blog http://www.imagestotreasure.blogspot.com




Hear you on the next post...

Floating market

After my friends left for a holiday I felt lonely and bored.
I don't know what to do and where to go, don't understand what I exactly want.

I was thinking that life is complicated, Why? because during working days I also complaining that my work is exhausting, boring, irritating, etc...Now, it's a vacation, time to relax, enjoy but no where to go, nothing to do....whoahhhhh...

Pardon me...so, today I went to church for Sunday mass.
I was relieved after hearing the homily from the priest.

And this afternoon, we went to Talat Nam (Floating market)with my Thai friend, this is every Friday to Sunday.
Many vendors are selling their products on their boat, as you can see in the photos.

The visitors; locals and tourists really enjoyed roaming around and buying a lot of things; food, clothes, souvenirs, fresh produce and many more.

I have been to Floating market near Bangkok, that is bigger than here in Hatyai.
We can only witness and experience this only here in Thailand.

The vendors are busy selling their products

There's a clown too, entertaining the kids with his magical tricks and gimmicks.....

Cambodia trip: with much anticipation to nothing...

Semestral break is near approaching, everybody is excited for two weeks holiday.
The fact is, we're planning what to do and where to go, it takes many months to decide and finalized the matter.

But there are times we cannot avoid obstacles or circumstances that can changed every decisions we made and the result is frustrations.

Like what I did....... I had a plan to go with my friends to Cambodia for a holiday. Of course we are all excited because we can relax, see the other places and to witness, not just for place but the history and culture of other nations.

If I can't make it now, hope to go next time!

Surprises!

Today was really a wonderful day!

I visited the sisters in Phatthalung with my friends, they are Ana, Novy, Lyds and Olga.
It takes 1 hour and a half to travel by van or bus from Hatyai.
A day before our visit, Sr. Sarry called me that she will prepare lunch for us, very exciting!

She is a very good cook.
We reached in their house at quarter to 11 AM, we chatted for a while and lunch was served.

Sr. Sarry and Jemalyn came out from the kitchen singing birthday song and holding a cake.
I sang with them thinking that somebody in the house was celebrating birthday.

I was surprised! when Sr. hugged and greeted me "advance happy birthday!" gladly I made a wish and blew the candles.....(taking a deep breathe)....Thank you Lord for these generous people.


Yes! very early for my birthday, three more weeks hehehehehe.
The lunch was awesome! My heartfelt gratitude to Sr. Sarry, she never forgets my birthday.

She was my first Thai language teacher here in Thailand, very kind of her.
After lunch, she took us around the city, we went to Thali Noi (little sea), Lampam Lake (park), Royal Traditional House (museum) and newly opened Tesco Lotus (supermarket).

There was a heavy rain when they sent us to van station for our return to Hatyai.
My friends were very happy with our experience today and it was also a good timing when we reached the apartment.

I received a text message from my parents an advance birthday greetings from them.
My gosh! very touching message that almost made me cry.
I'm missing them......


Anyway just see some of the photos taken during our visit in Phatthalung to be posted soon in my other blog http://www.imagestotreasure.blogspot.com